NoPression
Guillaume "voKal" Brazeau
Olivier "olibraz" Brazeau
Kevin "sKz" O'Connor
Maxime "Parad1s" Paradis
Yannik "havok" Charron

NoPression has been around for quite some time now, lingering just below the top of Canadian CS. With EG losing their premier starters to the CGS draft, and some other canadian stars following suite, NP has finally emerged as one of the top two teams from their country. Most recently they took second place at WCG Canada, losing to the newest EG.CA lineup.

They have been absolutely dominant this season in CEVO Main, taking the top seed heading into playoffs with a 14-2 record.

Strengths:

Solid communication. This team is made up of five close friends, and their chemistry, teamwork, and communication are extremely good.

Weaknesses:

Negativity. It seems that this team is very fast to get down on themselves and their negativity snowballs. They will need to adjust this as this event is chocked full of strong teams that are going to challenge them, and the ability to come back from deficits is going to be tested.

Prediction:

While NP has been dominant in CEVO Main, they are entering an uphill battle entering this event. They should have no problem taking out the fellow Main teams in the draw, however, they will have much more trouble competing with the Pro teams.



EG.CANADA
Evan "evan" Ahlberg
Halston "Tekn1kal" Bellintani
Nicolas "chosen" Lalonde
Jesse "quickshot" stevenson
Ian "royle" Royle

EG.CA hit a major snag when they were completely overwhelmed at Kode5 US. Since then, they overhauled their roster, and have greatly improved the team. They took first place at WCG CA, and are the fifth seed in the CEVO Main playoffs.

They shocked EG's US squad, knocking them out of KotH merely one week before they would have been inducted into the hall of kings. Despite that huge victory, they dropped in the following week to Eximus.

Strengths:

While they have only been together for a few months, EG has maintained the same exact roster since Kode5 US, which has done well for their teamwork and chemistry.

Weaknesses:

With some of their players' priorities lying with school, and having players spread across four time zones, EG has difficulty practicing. If that isn't enough of a weakness, there is always the EG and their ping weakness.

Prediction:

EG showed they have the potential to create upsets during KotH, with ringers. However, they also showed their inconsistency the following week. They can certainly compete with any of the teams in attendance, but I don't see them getting very far into the event.



Mug N Mouse
Jeff "Hero" Mettetal
Josh "punkvillE" Dacus
Travis "tmo" Bechtol
Derek "holl@" Boorn
Ryan "phamtastik" Pham

Texas' team seems to be a different combination of players after every few months. With the team falling apart after this past winter CPL, they used random Texas locals to fill spots until more desirable permanent members could be found. Last week the team finally pieced together their last two spots; adding former CGS player pham, and East Coast powerhouse hero.

Although the team coasted their way through CEVO Pro this season, they somehow ended up in the sixth and final playoff spot with a .500 record. With the lineup solidified, they should be in top notch shape for playoffs as well as this event.

Strengths:

A solid, local core. With punkvillE, tmo, and dboorn all playing their matches together at the MNM center, they are able to have much better communication and therefore better teamwork than most of the other teams participating.

Weaknesses:

With only three of their players localized, and the other two on opposite coasts, finding time to practice has tough for MNM. With that in mind, one must doubt how well they have been able to incorporate their latest additions in hero and pham.

Prediction:

Despite only finalizing the roster last week, MNM is built around a strong core, and the additions are beastly individual players. They won't have a problem getting to the later stages of this event.